


The Shape of Chaos and Order

by Dressiestsphinx



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: 1960s-ish, F/M, Food, Hanzo is a gay artist, Hurt/Comfort, Introducing culture, Junkrat as The Asset but on fire, Not really mentioned, Opposites Attract, Reminiscing, Sanjay Korpal is a dick, Sassy Mama Ana, Shape of Water AU, Symmetra is mute, a bit angsty, spoilers if you haven't seen the movie
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-20
Updated: 2018-03-20
Packaged: 2019-04-04 22:25:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,301
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14030136
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dressiestsphinx/pseuds/Dressiestsphinx
Summary: A mute Satya Vaswani and a fire-producing humanoid's relationship, inspired by Guillermo Del Toro's The Shape of Water.





	The Shape of Chaos and Order

**Author's Note:**

> A birthday gift for @ribbon-halos on Tumblr.

_I could tell you many tales that my father once told me, but their value means nothing compared to the one I was a part of._

_If I spoke about what happened…what would I say? Would you even believe me?_

_Would I tell you that it happened long ago?_

_Or would I tell you about the place?_

_Would I tell you that he came from a city built from nothing but hard light? Or the small, forgettable place in Maine close to the sea where a goddess lived?_

_Would I tell you about her?_

_Would I recount_ _her tale to you?_

_If I told you about her, the goddess no one worshipped, what would I say to honor her?_

_I’ll try my best. For her._

_This is the story of how two opposing forces found beauty within each other’s flaws, found love when the world around them tried to teach them the concept of hate, and of the monster that tried to destroy it all._

* * *

 

**_How could her gods forsaken her now?_ **

Satya Vaswani struggled to breath, struggled to keep her eyes open, and struggled not to focus on the pelting rain and seeping blood mixing in with her shivering body.

**_How could she be so optimistic about all of this?_ **

Even if the plan worked, if all their scheming leading up to this _grand_ moment played out smoothly, she knew that it would be her last chance of seeing him.

Before he had ever entered her life, all she ever knew in this bland, corrupt world was loneliness. Hyderabad’s influences had taken her parents’ lives and had taken her voice as an infant. Vishkar took her in when their agents had spotted her drawings that she created in the dirt with a small finger; children like her were not expected to create such difficult, advanced shapes without the proper supplies to base them off on.

Impressed by this little girl’s skills, they took her with them away from the filth and disease-filled village to the pristine, divine-like halls of Vishkar’s many living quarters. Individuals possessing lovely, healthy faces and minds of a different level of intelligence showed her the beauty and order that they wished to give to the world around her. She watched it all, in silent fascination and she never complained about her new home. Despite it all, she was _far_ too different from the rest; her lack of a voice and her condition did not please anyone who knew her. They had tried to communicate with her throughout the years, but her teachers grew frustrated at her lack of cooperation with them. When she was old enough to work, they transferred her from her Utopaean living quarters to the only apartment room available in downtown Baltimore.

_America. Far, far away from India and she silently prayed on her departing ship that her gods would spare her once more._

Satya Vaswani, who had once dreamed of being a part of Vishkar as an architech in Utopaea, was now forced to start over once again as a maintenance worker for Vishkar’s secret government laboratory in a place she felt alone in. Mornings of having ‘pie’ with Hanzo Shimada (a fantastic yet struggling, closeted yet eccentric artist that immigrated from Japan to escape a past he never shares with her) and nights of waking up to old Western movies coming from the cinema below her apartment complex were the things that occupied her lonely life. With no knowledge of the outside world of Vishkar, she found a footing on her own with an older maid that worked the night shifts with her.

_Ana Amari._

While introductions were awkward and amusing to others at first (Satya clearly remembered grabbing her green peas and placing them on their dining table to spell out her name and then pointing to Ana’s before grabbing them to explain her quietness), Ana Amari soon became not only her interpreter, but another close friend. While Ana appointed herself to learn sign language to help Satya communicate with their bosses and co-workers, Satya worked quietly with her and listened to the old woman’s long rants about how her daughter was now entering her rebellion years and how she sometimes wished for her husband to come back to help her.

“If he doesn’t want to stay in Fareeha’s life for long, fine. I would just like a break from her, Satya. You’re a good girl. You’re always keeping Mr. Shimada company when many others wouldn’t if they found out about everything surrounding him and you help me to clean around here when others would barely glance at the mess these ‘brilliant minds’ make every day. Those women should have an advantage. They have two eyes!” She took a breath before placing the full trash bag into her cart. She maneuvered her cart in a full circle to face Satya with a warm, tired smile, running a worn hand against her eyepatch.

“I will tell you this, Satya. Women like you will one day have a taste of freedom, a chance of being something more than what you are now. I’m too old now to dream of it, but my prayers will always be with you to find it.”

Satya signed to her, allowing a small smile to form on her usually expressionless face.

_Thank you, friend._

* * *

How she wished Ana’s prayers could save her now at this moment.

She had been shot and she knew in her clouded mind, through the mixture of terror and shock, that she would certainly bleed to death here on these docks if help did not come soon for her, for Hanzo,…for _him_.

Her heart panged painfully as she turned her face to look at her dying lover. She had witnessed him getting shot first before she fell with him to the ground and as she watched as his breaths become much more shallower than hers, she reached out for his hand, clutching it as tightly as she could with her own.

* * *

Sanjay Korpal, a respected special agent from the Vishkar Corporation, and his small team came to the laboratory to present their latest capture of a being that needed to be taken out from their world. Korpal had boasted to the entire staff of scientists and workers that this being was his most frustrating catch yet. He had captured the ‘god-like’ fire creature from the barren wasteland of Australia’s Outback by enclosing him in a tank of water. The task was not easy, having to experience unbearable temperatures of the sun and he had lost a few men when taking down the creature, but the shrill laughter that the creature gave out constantly angered him. There were many things that angered Sanjay Korpal: individuals of different races, life changing quickly without him, feeling that his manhood was being challenged, and anyone that tried to break the silence that he tried to place. It was the blissful silence that he craved in life, when things flowed slowly and in time with his own pace, when it could help him function under the pressure of being the one to change the world, and it was what grew into an obsession when he met the quiet Satya Vaswani. She, on the other hand, grew curious when it came to the human-like creature in the water.

She had brought him a boiled egg to eat and when he hissed at her for getting too close to him, she quietly set it down before him. He watched her carefully as she signed to him slowly.

_Egg._

Though this creature had the tendency to get filthy, the high-pitched ‘laughter’ he made caused everyone else to feel uneasy, and his ability to produce fire from his dry body made them all stay away from him, she was brave (foolish maybe) to pursue him. Everyone, including Ana and Hanzo, had expressed their thoughts about this creature, this _Junkrat,_ Sanjay had called him, as something that she shouldn’t go near.

_Not from their world, not from Vishkar’s world. But in hers, he was far too familiar._

She had pitied and fed him because the hollow cheekbones and his scrawny, scaly figure had reminded her all too well of what she was as a child. This ‘god-like’ creature was once worshipped for his abilities, like she was years ago. And like her, he was degraded from that status, under the same company that told her too that she wasn’t worthy.

Far, far away from Australia and India and forced into a country that was outside their standard of living. This chaotic-producing creature spoke high volumes to her, even if he could only communicate through chirps, squeaks, and the occasional shrill of a human laughing. She knew nothing of Australia, but as she brought tokens of home with her to share with him, she could see in his odd hazel eyes that he found them fascinating. The small meals of Makka Gudalu, Pachi Pulusu, and other spicy cuisines pleased him by the way his eyes lit up and his attempts to sign to her. She smiled when she understood, despite the flaws of his attempts.

_More. Food._

Introducing him to her music and dance was an experience that she never thought she would be able to do since leaving India. He had pressed his hands against the glass of his tank as he watched her under calculating eyes as she performed many Bharatanatyam routines in front of him. Though she wished she was dressed properly in traditional clothing, she did her best in her work attire. When she looked up to see his expression, her breath had caught when he danced with her in similar motions, flowing beautifully in the water. That was when she realized that she wanted to have these moments with him, reminiscing in the past with someone who understood what was taken from her.

Then Sanjay Korpal made things complicated.

* * *

After what she and her two ‘misfits’ had to endure in order get him out before he was scheduled to be vivisected, this is how it would end for her and him. _Jamison Fawkes._

_Jamison, he had chosen the name when he witnessed a circus performer on Hanzo’s small TV ‘breathe out’ fire like he could. Fawkes, when he saw one of Hanzo’s portraits of a red fox. He had misspelled the word, but he found it to his liking, though he was scrutinized by Hanzo because of it._

Mornings of utter bliss of someone she cared for deeply sleeping by her side after making love made her heart flutter. Afternoons of making decent Telugu cuisines together with him, his presence so warm and always so close to her as she sorted lentils and spices, made blushes across her cheeks a recurrent look for her. Evenings of watching him perform fire from his hands, mouth, and hair had scared her at first, but after seeing that he could control it well, made her embrace him close to her with little to no hesitation. The occasional, small ‘laugh’ from him reassured her that he was there with her in what could’ve been her lonely apartment, her lonely life.

* * *

_It was her time to go_ , she thought in utter sadness, as she tried her best to let her recent memories with him calm her down. Her breaths too became shallow as she felt her eyes grow heavy with each passing one. Only did she think it was too late that she finally let her tears fall from her eyes and her mind speak for herself .

_Fuck you, Korpal…_

_Forgive, Ana. Forgive, Hanzo…_

She held her gaze to Jamison’s form one last time before she took her final breath from this world.

_Sorry…_

* * *

When she opened her eyes, her entire body felt on fire and itchy and her throat burned the same. She attempted to scratch at herself, but when she felt her skin, she felt nothing but scales cover her arms. Her eyes dilated to these new features, reminding her of how his scales were of a brighter red and how these looked lovely with their darker contrasts and midnight rose color dancing over her entire form. She began to breathe slower as she admired it all slowly. She felt someone embrace her carefully and when she looked up, her eyes grew watery once more.

_Jamison._

She signed to him, watching her long claws click together in quick taps.

_Free?_

He smiled then, his whole body ablaze and only did she look at her own body that she realized she was on fire too, combining with his effortlessly. He signed to her, his smile growing with each word.

_Me and you. Together._

She placed her scaly arms around his shoulders, as they stood somewhere that wasn’t the docks, somewhere far, far away from Australia, India, and the place that tried to hold them down with their expectations.

_Yes_ , she thought as she closed her eyes, a smile gracing her lovely, scaly face. _Free, together, and in our own world._

* * *

_What happened all those years ago on the docks?_

_Simple really: Sanjay was slain by something that had more humanity than he did. Ana and I simply watched as this very-much-alive creature took Satya in his arms and jumped into the water below._

_Did they live a happy life together?_

_Ana and I think so._

_I think back on Satya and her lover in the final words that Ana shared with me before she and her daughter moved to another city far from the water. She spoke to me in the form a poem that her husband once told her years ago._

_“Unable to perceive the shape of You,_

_I find You all around me._

_Your presence fills my eyes with Your love,_

_It humbles my heart,_

_For You are everywhere._

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed. 
> 
> <3Bye<3


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